ADOWN THE TIGRIS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 March 1924, Page 4

ADOWN THE TIGRIS.

(By Bret Vane). < Adowri the Tigris I was borne Past Baghdad’s shrines ol fretted gold. “Adown the Tigris 1” The immemorial river that on a time watered Paradise, and on whose banks since the dawn of history the world’s greatest armies have thrust and parried. It is eleven hundred miles long eleven hundred miles of sullen water or turgid foam. Dark and swollen a tempestuous avalanche. . . then when the waters have subsided, stagnant shallows. When at its full, a galloping fury, on whose broad back death rides. It floods relentlessly every year. When the snows begin to melt, far away in Armenia, the thill trickle of a stream begins to move as with a consciousness of coming power, till the yellow foaming waters sweep through the narrow channel, gaining inch by inch till Baghdad’s streets arc below the flood level of the river. The strong and pliant Maude bridge bends like a bow, and veiled women hesitate or go screaming across. The mean daily discharge of tho Tigris is 106,000 cubic foot per second when the flood is at its height, and tlic current races between the pontoons at the rate of eight knots an hour. Below Baghdad the waters are out of control. They i sweep over the low banks, and make a vast inland sea, and the tortuous course of the river is lost. Perhaps, when the waters have gone down, the river will have carved for itself a new channel, for you never can tell just where this river will be from one year to another. WORLD EMPIRES. Strangely enough, the Tigris has worn its way into the history of all world empires, playing no minor part in th» pageant of their army’s exploits, advancing or retarding as its mood of the moment decreed, fn our own time wo know of it thwarting or assisting the passage of British arms in its own cavalier way, and it has been written in the annals of the war that “the Tigris conditioned both attack and defence, and more than once intervened decisively in the issue. Babylonian, Assyrian, Modo-Persian, Greek. Roman, Mohammedan, and Brin„> have fallen about the banks of this ancient river, and the desert lias become an empire burial-ground. Cyrus came to the Diala, near where it joins tl lc , Tigris just south of Baghdad, and in an attempt to cross one ol his sacred white houses was drowned. To avenge himself he threatened to break the strength of the river, and lor a whole summer his army dug channels, into which the river was dispersed. 'File king’s boast that a woman would be able to cross without wotting her knees was made good, hut nowadays a pontoon bridge makes crossing very much easier. Now the river sweeps round Cleslplion—but a solitary crumbling arch, immense and defiant —and so turns on 1 itself that ships are seen in every quarter. It is scarcely possible to tell which are ahead and which folieming. The effect is bewildering. Ctesiphon

was the capital of the Sassanids, and a few years belorc the Mohammedan invasion a flood came down that set up a panic. The King made a frantic effort to stay the torrent, and, to encourage his canal workers, he crucified 40 of them in one day. But it was useless. This river cannot bo held j once it is on the rampage. KUT. With a wide, broad swoop it comes to Kul—tragic litLlc Kut. There is a long colonaded bazaar by the uater front, a solitary minaret piercing tinsky, and then a forest of dun-coloured bouses. But it is impossible to set foot in Kut without a thrill of pride, tragic little monument that it is to British pluck and endurance. And it was the helter-skelter rush ol this impetuous river that finally swept away the hopes of To"nshciid’s men. At first it was a race to relievo the garrison before the Hoods should come but the river won. Then it was a struggle to gain possession of the bunds that held the river to its course —but the struggle was lost. Then Km foil. Now, through marsh and swamp, it goes almost to Amara. Delectable Amaral Yes, as things go by the Tigris. Lake Baghdad, Amara spreads itself on both banks oi the river, and a sinuous bridge of boats spans the stream. Amara lias a comparatively decent climate, and during the war was an extensive hospital centre. On either side of the river, above and below the. town, there are miles of palm groves and gardens of oranges and pomegranate. But its chief attraction, in many ways, is a quaint religious people called Soobi. This exclusive and miniature race is peculiarly attached to water, running water. It conditions all their living. Their “bible” is read over running water, and their marriage ceremony is celebrated m running water. Indeed, if wo can believe all we hear, many strange rites and ceremonies are expressed in such a way. And it is because of the abundance of this restless, moving element at Amara that the greater number of these strange folk dwell there. But Amara! to your shame be it recorded, the last tiling you did to me was to sell me good Australian tinned -foods, conspicuously labelled “Red Crsos,” and you did it like the super-profiteer that you are. Explain it? I didn’t even try, for with a flowing tide set towards home, who cared? THE NARROW’S. Now the river twists and turns and writhes like a convulsed snake. Between Amara and Xurnali, at the “Narrows,” the banks arc but eightylive feet apart. One choice bit of angularity was appropriately named the “Devil’s Elbow.” There was a time when navigation at night was impossble and always by day tho negotiation of the Elbow was a pretty piece of amphibian jugglery. The paddle steamers had a generous beam, and in addition, towed a barge port j and starboard. Taking the bond, they headed straight for desert. There would be a bump, a thud, and a heave, the steamer would rebound into the fairway while the barge would glide gracefully on to the low bank, and for a while,’ travel by land. We raced through the Narrows at night, because the G.O.G. was waiting at Eden for us. Eden! Paradise!

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal tkst« Brought death into the world, and all our woe. . . It was at Eden that some of us wore decorated. Standing within n foot or two of this ancient waterway and almost in the shadow of the Tree of Knowledge fat least the local inhabitant said so), an inch or two of coloured ribbon was pinned to a few good Australian tunics for distinguished and meritorious service in this land that men call the Cradle of the ■World. Bui Kurnah! A malarial hell! The Baghdad boil of Mesopotamia. The most unhealthy and unlovely spot in a wilderness of woe. A Sheffield lad, on his return home from Mesopotamia, was asked how he liked the country:—“They actually called it the Garden of Eden.” he replied. “But you give me Shuffield.” Kurnah is built on the site of the Garden of Eden, so Arab tradition declares, but

oil whn't foundation, ■no 0110 can toll. It would bo nicer to have it elsewhere. It is here that Euphrates conies welling to the Tigris from lar Asia Minor, past Babylon and Ur of the Chaldees. The two rivers join forces now and together make the broad Shatt-l-Arnb, that sweeps by the home of Sinbad the Sailor and then on to the sea, the piratical Persian Gulf.